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Why I switched from Thunderbird to The Bat!

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cyberdiva:
Have you tried PostBox?  It's based on Thunderbird but I find it more configurable and more to my liking.  It's not free, but the price is $9, which is almost free.  It's not perfect, but it's as close as I've been able to come to reproducing the features I love and depend on in Mulberry.  Mulberry has been my primary email client for more than a decade.  It's still the best client I know for IMAP.  However, it has issues with graphics and with unicode, and it hasn't been under active development since perhaps 2005.  I tried The Bat several times, but I never got to the point where I could configure it to do what I wanted.  I also tried Thunderbird, but though I kept it on my computer to deal with an occasional email that Mulberry couldn't handle well, I was never tempted to use it on a regular basis.  It was too slow, for one, and I couldn't configure it as I wanted.  I tried PostBox not long ago and quickly found myself impressed.  It's now my backup, replacing Thunderbird.  One of these days, perhaps when PostBox gets more robust tech support and/or an active user's forum, it may even replace my beloved Mulberry.  Even now, though, I'd recommend PostBox to anyone looking for an alternative to Thunderbird.  (BTW, I too prefer plain text email, and PostBox permits me to decide whether I want plain text, basic HTML, or full-blown HTML, and it's easy to switch back and forth depending on the needs of the specific email message.  Another thing I like about PostBox is that it lets me set any number of mail folders as capable of receiving new mail, so it works well with the way I've set up my sieve file.)

Tuxman:
$9 for a Thunderbird (which is, as proven in my initial posting, buggy bloatware) with a few dozen built-in plug-ins? Are you serious?
When it comes to Mulberry, I have read a lot about it but never seen it in the wild.

It's still the best client I know for IMAP.
--- End quote ---

How do you define that? Where does Thunderbird/The Bat! fall short in terms of handling IMAP? I am not so tech-savvy when it comes to RFC specifications.


Edit: I've read through PostBox's website now. Looks like Apple Mail. Bleh.

superboyac:
Interesting read, tuxman.  I'm also interested in others experiences with the Bat (I have a love/hate relationship with it).

Can The Bat! help me get my PST illness under control? 

mouser, you've been using The Bat! for long enough, would you say that it can help get 2~10 GB of email under control?
-Renegade (October 18, 2012, 10:26 AM)
--- End quote ---
Yes, the Bat is definitely a good client for optimizing your email data.  In fact, I'll go one step further and say it's really the only windows option available if your dedicated to storing your email on your hard drive.  That's one of things it's great at: sturdy/reliable email storage, responsive features, multiple account handling.  What it sucks at is customer support, and they will absolutely, positively not care at all about any feature you might want added to the program.  It's on version 5 right now...I assure you when it reaches version 8 not a damn thing will have been noticeably changed or improved.

Renegade:
Ok...

So, if I don't give a crap about new features or anything, does The Bat! offer reliable email storage?

I do not care about new features. I care ONLY about reliability. Well, that an the ability to filter spam in email, but 6 of 1...

Reliability - importability - compatibility... that's all I care about -- Does The Bat! meet that?

*Tried it a few years ago (quite a few) -- had no patience...

Tuxman:
I have a love/hate relationship with it-superboyac (October 18, 2012, 01:00 PM)
--- End quote ---
Where's the hate?

What it sucks at is customer support, and they will absolutely, positively not care at all about any feature you might want added to the program.-superboyac (October 18, 2012, 01:00 PM)
--- End quote ---
They lost their bug tracker's database a while ago. Still they accept feature requests through it, you'll just have to find enough people who vote for it, then there's a good chance for it, I guess.

It's on version 5 right now...I assure you when it reaches version 8 not a damn thing will have been noticeably changed or improved.-superboyac (October 18, 2012, 01:00 PM)
--- End quote ---
Have you actually read the change log?
The latest beta builds have a quick reply window, for example. There are changes and improvements.

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